Lesson of the day...

Know when to stop playing.

Bingo, Sunday Hundred Grand & NL10

What a busy week end! From me pushing to close the small gap to NL10, to my first experience in a "big" online tourney to a friendly session of bingo poker. So much stuff about this week end that I'm not too sure where to start. I won't go in chronological order since the load of online cash games I've played this week end is just a big blur and, anyway, I'm not a big fan of order.

Saturday night, Mel and I had a small casual poker night with a few friends we had not seen in a long time. With 60,000 chips, blinds at 1000/2000 and doubling every 15 minutes, this was pretty much a crapshoot. Add the fact that half the people there did not care about cards and were there just to hang out, and that we were playing for ridiculously small stakes (2$) and this was pretty much a crapshoot. I still managed to do well and finished 2nd.

Even though that saturday night bingo session was entertaining, this week end was all about 2 things : my push to get my bankroll big enough to take a shot at NL10, and the sunday hundred grand. I played cash games like a mad man the whole week end and finally, late sunday night after the tourney (more on that later), I made it. Having taken my monday off, I immediatly jumped on 4 NL10 tables and went on a close to 20$ downswing. If you recall my post about my bankroll management guidelines, this was close to throwing me back to the fscking penny games. I closed all 4 tables, took a short break and decided to take things a bit more slowly. Started playing on 2 tables and managed to win back most of that downswing before going to bed. Then on monday I went on a sick tear. I just couldn't do anything wrong, and when I made a bad call the poker gods would help me by giving me a nice suckout. When I went to bed last night, my roll was up to around 137$, giving me some breathing room at NL10.

A few realisations from my quick dip in NL10.
- My bankroll management guidelines for microstakes are VERY aggressive. And I do mean VERY aggressive. I have to admit that at first, with barely 10 buy-ins I was not quite comfortable there, especially starting with a nice 2 buy-ins downswing. I've now settled into it and playing fewer tables at once helps. Will see if I change my guidelines to move up to NL25.
- I have to get used to playing shorter stacks.
- NL10 is WAY more tight and players have a better grasp of how and when to be aggressive. Don't get me wrong, this level still seems relatively easy to beat with basic ABC poker, but that and the shorter stacks mean I had to make a few small adjustments.

Now about that sunday hundred grand... Well my @#$(*&! piece of 5H17 PC decided to die on me in the middle of it. Not only that, it died on the river, when I had top 2 pairs, a lot invested in the pot and about to call a bet from someone. I managed to come back and play on Mel's laptop (she generously put aside her work to allow me to finish my tourney! thx!!!). Anyway, I came back short stacked and SEVERLY tilted from the whole thing. Needless to say it didn't go really well. I am still happy to have tried it though and it gave me precious hindsight for my next try. Even with 3000 starting chips, I thought the whole thing moved pretty fast... way faster than I expected. Next time I will play more aggressively right off the bat.

So there it is, my whole week end. I have to say that it was a very good week end. I had set myself the goal to be at NL10 before the end of the year and here I am. When I first deposited to pokerstars last January, I wanted to make poker some sort of sideline income before the end of 2007. I am not quite there yet (how little did I know back then!) but I am definitly on the right track.

So now what's next? NL25. I want to be there before next summer, then up to NL50 by the end of 2008. When does that make me move to being a professional poker player? I don't know yet, but I'll make sure to keep my eyes on the prize.

Surely, step by step, I am going through with my poker plan...

Downswing and a nice comeback

It seems like an habit for me to start a month with a downswing. I don't know if it's just a random trend or if I'm on to something. But anyway, last night I decided to start playing and grind the few $ I needed to finally move up stakes. Well turns out it was one of those nights where I just couldn't hit anything and people would keep hiting against me. I ended up with a 350 BB downswing and a steaming a bit.

I decided to take a short break and when I came back I thought "what the heck. I want to play but feel like it's one of these nights where I need to do some damage control". That's how I decided to invest a small amount to enter a satellite for the Sunday Hundred Grand on stars.

It took me some time to get this thing rolling and I did not really pick up a hand until the first break. Then after the break I had to take some chances and I doubled up twice to put me back to the average stack. Then I turned on the aggression and managed to steal a few pots and I was finally in good shape. Then I just hit the zone. I don't know how else to describe it... When I play tournaments I sometimes end up feeling like everything just clicks. I instinctivly know when to steal, when to tone down aggression and when to go all out.

Anyway, when we got 6 handed I had a stack I had managed to build up to about 16K (about 10K behind the chip leader) and I picked up pocket Kings in mid pos with blinds of 300/600 and a 50 ante. UTG calls the BB and I make it 2400 to go. The shortest stack pushes his last 1818 chips in the middle and another relatively short stack pushes half his remaining chips in the middle for a call. Dlop comes J-J-5 rainbow.

The guy in the small blind then checks with only 2587 chips left, so I bet 2600 putting him all in figuring that there's a good chance I have the best hand and even if I lose the main pot AND the sidepot I will still be left with plenty of chips to play. He thinks for a while and calls.

The small blind flips 9-9, the shortest stack flips A-K. Turn comes a deuce and the river brings a harmless ten and that's all she wrote. I now have a seat in next sunday's hundred grand!

November 2007 online results

Quick update

I can't wait to post my November graph. It might not be the best graph as far as constant results go, but it sure as hell would make an entertaining roller coster plan! I'm still managing to put up gains though and around 50% of my sessions are winning ones (which I consider pretty good). So far November is bringing more profits than September or October... that said the month is still not over so who knows where that roller coaster will bring me!

Alex and me have made a nice prop bets. Whoever logs more ring game hands until January 17th. So far I am about 400 hands ahead and I feel pretty comfortable about this bet even though my holidays should be busier than his. I think it will be a race to the finish, but still, being ahead early is always fun as it puts the pressure on him.

I have been dealing in another tourney last week. Went pretty well, not much to say about this except that bad poker players seems to like to throw their cash away in rebuy tourneys.

I'm doing OK in both my fantasy football leagues. Could be doing better but I am still in a good spot to make the playoffs, and once in I'm pretty confident my team will get me money.

Rebuy maniacs!

What a busy week end! On friday night I had my first night as a professional poker dealer. It went pretty well even though my services were only required for the first hour. I had lots of fun. It was a big 200$ + rebuys fundraiser. Judging by the amount of maniacs rebuying like crazy at my table, I'd say the event was a success. Then on sunday we had a smaller fundraiser to help finance a good friend's new company. Also went really well. It's funny because in these two events I was facing very different crowds with very different budgets. Yet in both cases, lots of rebuys/addons were sold. There seems to be something in these types of tournaments that unleashes the degenerate gambler in everyone.

In between these two event in which I was a dealer, I snuck a long online session on saturday. Well, as good as September and October have been, November sure starts rocky! So far it's a catastrophic month but hey, it's still early to throw the towel on November!

I've read a football piece today on ESPN in which the writer was saying how much Running Backs are usually more successful when they keep their eyes on the goal line instead of looking around trying to avoid being tackled. It might sound silly but it made me realise that the last few days I have been trying to avoid mistakes instead of trying to win. Time to turn this around and go back to the proper mindset! And it all starts tonight at the homegame!!

I am almost done reading Sklansky's Theory of Poker. Great, great book. I know it's a book I will take time to digest, and then come back for a second serving. Next in line for my poker readings will be "The Poker Mindset" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger.

Well I just learned as I'm writing this that we might have another new player tonight so it should again be a fun homegame!

New beginning

Tonight will be my first night as a poker dealer. While it's not a new career for me, it has the potential of being a friggin nice side job.

I'm pretty nervous about it... it's going to be a long day with a full normal day of work and then a night dealing cards.

Wish me luck, oh dear imaginary reader.

October 2007 online results

The poker Gods hate me...

First hand at a new table online I get pocket aces... against a player who flops quads against me. Ugh...

Gut shots and sick calls

Well tonight's home game was pretty quiet, played only 3 handed. It was all going really well until the following hand happened (2 hands before the end of the night too!)

I am on the button and look at KJ offsuit, so I raise it to 3BB and the SB calls. Flop comes 9 J 3 rainbow. SB bets and I call. Turn comes a J. SB checks, I bet and SB pushes all in. I go in the tank for a while and end up calling. SB flips 33... and I lose a huge pot.

What pisses me off in this story is that I thought about it for a while and got stuck on 2 hands I was thinking that could beat me (AJ and J9). Figuring that either needs the case Jack, I call. I never even considered pocket 9s or pocket 3s!!! I guess I had a few too many beers/baileys/ports... I don't mind losing a hand and I can't even say with absolute certainty that I would have folded this hand if I had thought about it. I just hate the fact that, like a fscking noob, I called without seeing the obvious hands that could beat me!!! Oh well... let the steam go away and learn from it I guess...

On a good note... tonight was a gut shot fest for me. I seriously got at least 6 gut shots the whole night. This caused in me an epiphany : the way I play gut shot is a big leak in my game. I guess that's the good that came out of the evening... I lost a few bucks but discovered a pretty blatant leak. Now time to analyze hand histories and go back to the drawing board! Let's fix that!!

Hello my name is Nic and I'm a skate-aholic

Well I've made a big mistake last week which really took its toll on my poker playing. I fell victim to a new addiction. I bought EA's skate for the Xbox 360. That game is friggin addiction, I find myself playing for hours telling myself "just this one challenge and then I stop!". Of course after that challenge I forget to stop and move on to another challenge... and so on and on and on...

Anyway, last night I managed to put down the Xbox controller for a while and went to play a bit of poker. I have to admit that I was a bit scared having not played in almost a week. If you've read my old posts you know that most of the time after a short break my first few sessions are... not optimal to say the least. So I went and sat down at my usual stake pretty much expecting a rocky session. My goal was to minimize my downtime "tilt" and try to bring in a short profit or at the very least break even. I did not play very long but to my surprise I managed to get in the proper mindset right away and I picked up where I had left about a week ago. Once again everything seemed to click and my decision making was as good as I remember it being for quite some time. I ended up playing about 115 hands and raking in about $2 of profit, finally putting my bankroll above $70. My goal is still to just bring it up to $100 to climb up in stakes.

As I've said in my last post, I have decided to adhere to a strict bankroll management formula to climb up in stakes. I just figured that posting it here would help me keep it in mind and at the same time kinda make me accountable for it? I know it sounds silly since pretty much no one reads this blog but hey! If it works for me! ;)

So here it is :

Micro-stakes : Go up at 10 buy in, go back down at 8
Low Stakes : Go up at 15 Buy ins, go back down at 12
Med stakes and above : Go up at 20 buy ins, go back down at 17

Nothing earthshaking, but it's the first time I set myself guidelines like these and I think they help me a lot to stay disciplined and at the same time have my next goal always in mind.

If any of you (my imaginary readers) have been interested in the Absolute Poker scandal then I've stumbled upon a reading that might interest you. Some high stakes online player (whose name I always forget) made a pretty thourough investigation that he detailed on his blog. The evidence is pretty damning, and despite AP's effort to drown the story I find it hard to ignore. Anyway, you can read that and reach your own conclusions... In the meantime I have to go grind 60ft and land in a manual...

Focus

Well it's been a while since I made a blog entry. I've decided to drop railbirds for my real "blogging" so far, so good old blogspot will be the only place where you (my imaginary readers) will be able to check how things are going with my poker "career".

September was good for me on the poker side of things. Not only did I have a REALLY good month online after a slow start (finally coming back to playing seriously), but my live game in our friendly home game has brought constant gains. If the first few days of October are any indications, that hot streak seems to be still going on. Funny how sometimes some time away from an activity can bring you insight into it. I really feel that it all clicks now and I've been posting pretty much constant gains in micro-stakes. After putting some money back in my online bankroll and setting up my playing environment properly I have had very good results.

I have set goals for myself and I think this is one of the reasons everything is going so well lately. I stepped down in stakes, going back to 0.01/0.02 and I now follow a more rigorous bankroll management system. I'm not stepping up in stakes until I get 10 buy ins for the next stake and will step back down once if I'm ever down to 8 buy ins. At first, reloading and going down in stakes was a bit hard on my moral (and let's face it, my ego). So that's where my focus is right now. Getting my bankroll to $100 so I can move up to 0.05/0.10 again. Then up to $250 and so on.

I have been mostly focusing on No Limit Hold'Em cash games. I've stopped playing the daily railbirds freerolls, have not really done any Sit & Gos, have not played other games much either. I definitly feel that cash games is where you can get a more constant income. Tournaments involved too much variance for it to be really profitable although the payout when you win a big one is hard to beat. As for other games well I still love them, but it's all about focus right now so I try not to divide my energies on too many different things.

Sit & Gos are a place where I've traditionnaly performed pretty well, and they provide a pretty interesting return on investment when you can do well in them. I will most likely start playing a few sit & gos again (always with the same bankroll guidelines), even though lately I'm enjoying the cash games so much that I have to say I don't miss them all that much.

Last week we had a record home game, sitting an awesome 9 people! People were in a gaming mood too and multiple times people added more money on the table. As usually (and as you can see from my homegame ROI% posted in the results sidebar) I've performed very well there. The action we had last week was just awesome and makes me think that we might be able to up the stakes a bit pretty soon. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while and as a first step towards that I will try to introduce more and more straddles. Having quite a few new people last week it was definitly not the right time for it though.

I have been asked by a few people on railbirds to post a guide to using pokertracker and although I still haven't had the time to sit down and write this (ok that's a bit of a lie... I would have had the time I just decided to play instead) but I think it's an interesting project and should get down to it pretty soon.

I've been working on organizing a fundraiser tourney for a friend. This should be held on November 4th and we still have quite a few things to settle but it should be fun. I won't play in it, I will either be dealing or doing floor. Still not sure which one. Will keep you posted. That's it for now! As part of my "focus" moto I will try to keep this blog updated more regularly.

September 2007 online results

Starting now I will post my monthly results graph. These will include only my NLHE cash games results for now.

Testing my hand at H.O.R.S.E.

Played quite a few freerolls again. Started off by finishing in the top 30% in Pot Limit Omaha on saturday. Then on monday, being at home all day, I decided to participate in both HORSE freerolls, not too sure what to expect.

The first one went ok (except for the fact that it took me about 5 Omaha hands to remember that this was Hi/Lo and not simple Pot Limit Omaha Hi like I've been playing quite a bit lately). I ended up busting about 420th out of 870 players, so a little under the 50% mark. Not bad but not quite as good as I expected from myself.

Then I registered for the 21h00 one. It went pretty well and although I started off slow (don't I always?) well after the first game rotation I had about twice the average stack. From there I kept building up my stack, mostly from the stud games. For quite some time I was pretty close to the chip leader. In the end, I made a few bad calls that busted me in 77th position. Other than a few hands I'm really happy with the way I played in this tourney.

I find it kinda funny the number of people I see in the HORSE freerolls who say things like "I love HORSE but I hate Razz". If you don't like one of the 5 games involved in HORSE then you do not like HORSE! HORSE is by definition a rotation of these 5 games! It also amazes me how many people participate in it even though they don't like it just because "it's a freeroll". Guess these people have time to waste, if I don't like a particular event, I just won't participate in it even if it's free! I don't find myself participating in every Hold'Em freeroll I see even though I enjoy Hold'Em!

Guess I just don't understand why people do, by choice, something they don't like.

I've been having good tourney results lately. I'll keep trying to build up on that and then go back a bit to cash games, which I've neglected lately. This reminds me, last night was our weekly homegame and boy is that game a lot of fun! We play for ridiculously small stakes but I think overall, everyone is really enjoying it. We had a new player last night, showed good instinct overall and I think he'll be one to watch out in the future. As for me, well I ended up the night with a small profit, which is pretty much the norm for me lately in that homegame.

Dead tired but happy about it.

Well last night I came back home completly soaked from torential rain exactly 4 minutes before the start of the Railbirds freeroll on FullTilt. So I rushed, started my PC, grabed a towel to dry myself a bit and changed in dry clothes. I managed to sign up to the tourney with less than a minute to go before the start!

It all started out pretty slow for me and ended up shortstacked after a while, but I stuck to my gun and kept playing my game. I managed to get back to my starting stack just before the first break by winning small pots left and right. Then it all started to click. After the first break everything was seemingly falling into place. I was stealing just enough blinds to build up my stack slowly, my hands were holding up when I was at a showdown and I was pretty much in controle and I felt I was dictating the action at my table. I grew up my stack a little above the average stack size before the second break and it would stay above the average until I busted out.

It's still all a bit blurry to me so I can't post specifics right now (specific hands are slowly coming back to me but I want to sort it out a bit by browsing through the massive hand history files) but overall I felt good the whole way. Managed to build up my stack and stay one step ahead of the average, even grabbing the chip lead a few times. When we got to 2 tables left I was chip leader and I stayed in the top 2~3 in chips for the rest of the game.

In the end, at 2h30 in the morning, I busted out on a bad play from my part. I was pretty tired at that point so my focus was down. We were now heads up and had about same stack size. He was covering me but barely. I don't remember exactly how the action went, but basically I went all in with my straight and as he called I just realised that my tired brain had not seen the possible flush there. We bot flipped our cards and he had the nut flush and I was drawing dead.

So even though I went out on a bonehead play I'm still really happy about my result here. 2nd out of 1500+ people is what I'd call pretty good! Hopefully this is just a start! Particularly happy that it just started my bankroll on FullTilt!

First time doing a Fixed Limit tourney

Well doing a Fixed Limit Hold'Em freeroll tourney tonight so I will post my thoughts here. I am really a Fixed Limit noob so we'll see if I get a clue how to play this ;)

Ok 3rd hand I pick up KcQd in the Big Blind. It's folded around and the small blind calls and I raise it. He calls.

Flop comes A-5-9 with 2 spades. He check I bet he calls. Turn is 9d he bets I call. River is the 6c, he bets and I figure there's no way a raise will make him fold and I'm most liekly beat. I fold realising how much I am clueless at fixed limit lol. This might not last too long after all ;)

Ok now about 10~12 hands into the tourney, I've already lost about a third of my stack. Need to tighten up and change my style A LOT. Trying to adjust and change gears now.

Ok started adjusting now. Won a few pots and doing ok so far. Just had some problems picking my spots at first since the pot odds in limit make it so enticing to play most of the hands. Really weird feeling for me so far. Can't put as much pressure so it's tougher to bluff your way in hands too. Still I like it so far.

Wow! What a hand. I pick up Ac 8h UTG and decide to call and get one caller and the big blind in the pot. Flop comes Ad As 9h. Big blind and me both check and the player in late pos bets. BB folds and I raise and get called. Turn comes Ac !! I bet and he calls. River is a blank since I have the nuts. I bet again and he calls.

The very next hand I pick up 9d 8c in the Big Blind. There's one call and then a raise. The small blind, me and the original caller all call. Flop comes Qs Js 2d. Wel all check to the raiser who bets. The small blind and me both call. Flop comes Td and I figure it's time to see if someone has a flush. Small blind checks, I bet, late pos raises. Small blind and me both call. Turn comes Jc. Small Blind checks, I bet and everyone call and I rake in a nice pot with my straight.

Now sitting on more than 2500 chips and doing great.

Now up to 2800 chips. Posting hands while playing is a bit tough so I'll slow down. Plus I don't want that post to be 300 pages long. Guess I might edit it at the end before publishing it.

21h45Wow... spent some time with only me and another guy not sitting out at our table. Now we're 3. Been like that for almost 30 minutes.

21h50 Funny how my limit noobness gives me bigger stack swings in fixed limit than I usually have in no limit. Now down to about 1000 chips.

21h56 Just managed to triple up from my miserable 800 chips with pocket 8s who helpd up. Back in business! Gotta play more carefully now.

22h00 First break. Sitting on about 1600 chips, so not in great shape but not in critical condition either. I'm finally getting into the FL groove and have to admit I really enjoy it.

Well busted out a short while after the first break. Was a pretty fun tourney, definitly took me a while to get used to limit play though. Next time I'll do better!

Freerolls galore and a change of scenery

Ok first thing's first. No my PC is not fixed yet. I ended up bringing back my 6 years old piece of shit former PC to life just to allow me to play poker until I find replacement parts or just decide to buy a new one.

This week end I played in two railbirds freerolls. I don't have my notes with me right now so I can't post specific hands right now but I'll do so later on when I get home. The first freeroll was a Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Now I'm nowhere near an expert at Omaha Hi/Lo, that said I still feel that I had a better understanding of the game that the majority of the field there. That's not to say that I didn't make some newbie mistakes because I sure did. Stuff like betting strong for the low in a three way pot while I had absolutly no shot at the Hi. The particular hand I'm thinking about I ended up splitting the low pot with another player, which means that even though I had a good low hand, I actually ended up with only 25% of the pot after having contributed roughly 33% of the money in it. Silly me, I should have realised that this contested pot would most likely end up like that. Guess that's part of the learning process! That said I had a ton of fun and I will most definitly participate in these Omaha Hi/Lo freerolls whenever they come up.

On Sunday I signed up for a NL Hold'Em freeroll on FullTilt poker. I had never really tried seriously FullTilt. It might sound silly, but I think that actually playing on a site helped me focus a bit more. It had been a while since I last felt that good while playing poker. I was really focused and everything seemed to click. I was getting good reads and acting accordingly. Stealing from opponents I felt weak, getting out of the way when I sensed strength etc. In the end I didn't make the money but I still finished in about the top 30% which I am definitly happy about. After the first break I was in the top 10% and stayed that way until a few hands ate a huge part of my stack. (I will post more about these hands later on). This good session put me back in the state of mind I was in when I had constant winning sessions, before the cold streak I was in hit me.

Watch out people! I'm back!

Ego check...

Lately I've had a few really bad sessions. Reasons are mostly playing by short burst and not as regularly and mostly, experimenting with small pot poker a lot. (with mixed results)

Anyway, bottom line is, that afer quite a few bad sessions I managed to blow most of my bankroll. Now what to do.

There's no way I can play comfortably at my usual stakes with the bankroll I now have. So I'n left with either :
a) Go down stakes and grind it out.
b) Reload.

I'm still not 100% sure what I will do. On the one hand I think reloading makes sense since poker is important to me and it's an investment. It would also allow me to play at my usual stakes comfortably. On the other hand, going down in stakes for a while and use proper bankroll management habits would be great for me I think. Would teach me a good lessons I guess lol.

Anyway, just thinking out loud. Think I'll try option A.

Still no PC :(

Well, still have not got to getting my PC fixed. Which mean SEVERE online poker withdrawal. Online poker withdrawal, in turn, means that I play like a fucking donkey whenever I use Mel's computer. I really need to get to buy that new motherboard, it just seems that I always end up having something better to do with my money and time and with my touch football season just around the corner I don't expect to have much more free time. Anyway, will try to do that stuff asap, most likely after my vacations.

On the plus side I've been twice to the CPR in the last two weeks. Results have been so-so (3rd to bust out once and finished about 25th the other time). The good thing though is that I am getting more and more comfortable playing live (hear that Alex?? you should be coming too! :P ).

Tonight everything started very well. I actually managed to play the style that I want to and it worked well for a while. Then for some reason I need to find out I just started playing poorly. I'm always pretty loose, but I turned into loose passive which ate away my stack. Then I got a streak of cards colder than Alaska and ended up being blinded away.

I have problems remembering particular hands I played, I really need to bring a notebook to take notes during breaks for further analysis. My game is a real roller coaster and I definitly need to find my leaks and work on fixing them. I'm really determined on being a winning player and moving up the stakes.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll post again from my own PC pretty soon!

Dead PC, CPR, home game...

Just a quick overdue update. My computer is dead which has pretty much prevented me from playing online. I've played a bit here and there on Mel's computer but have to admit that I have problems getting into it when I only have a short bit of time, can't really place myself in a comfortable spot etc. So my online results have not been really good.

I've also gone to the CPR again last wednesday, busted out pretty early, not much to say about it. I did not really feel good about playing that night but went anyway.

Last week's home game was at Alex's place. I goofed around a lot and decided to just have fun. Ended up losing a bit of money but I don't mind cause I had a ton of fun.

Anyway, I will try to post more soon and hopefully my computer can be fixed pretty quickly.